memeorandum: NASA Denies Trump's Request to Send Astronauts Past the Moon on New Rocket (Kenneth Chang/New York Times)

9:40 AM ET, May 13, 2017

Top Items:

White House Staff React in Real-Time as Trump Tweets: ‘Jesus’ … It was 7:51 a.m. eastern time on a Friday, and the president was angrily tweetstorming again. — This time, it was about “Fake News,” “the Russians,” China and beef, James Comey and “tapes,” and his sometimes hapless White House staff.

more at Mediagazer »

Justin Miller / The Daily Beast:

Did Donald Trump's Dinner With FBI Boss James Comey Break the Law? … The timing of President Donald Trump's dinner with FBI Director James Comey raises the question of whether the president attempted to—or did in fact—interfere with an ongoing FBI investigation. And that's a federal offense.

Discussion: Shareblue, Raw Story, Business Insider, MSNBC, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, HuffPost, USA Today, The Mahablog, Mediaite, The Atlantic and Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

President Trump Craves Loyalty, but Offers None — It is often at moments of crisis that Americans get the clearest glimpses of a president's character, and this week they had the chance to learn a good deal about the true Donald Trump after his abrupt decision to fire James Comey, the F.B.I. director.

Discussion: emptywheel, Politicus USA and The Guardian

Austin Wright / Politico:
Comey declines to testify before Senate committee

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Washington Post, Power Line, The Talking Dog, IJR, Liberal Values, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

Joe DePaolo / Mediaite:
‘It Took My Breath Away’: Chris Wallace Offers Stunning, Must-Watch Critique of Trump White House

Discussion: The Week

Shannon Vavra / Axios:
Comey turns down Senate invite, won't testify next week

Discussion: Hot Air, ABC News, Politico, Political Wire and The Hill

Pamela Brown / CNN:
Source: Comey is ‘not worried about any tapes’

New York Times:
A Look at the Candidates Trump Is Considering to Head the F.B.I.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., The Guardian, Above the Law and The Atlantic

Alan Dershowitz / Washington Examiner:
Trump did not obstruct justice in firing James Comey

Discussion: Politico and Conservative News Today

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:
Trump vs. the Russia Investigations

Discussion: Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Bloomberg

Pierre Thomas / ABC News:
Comey furious at lack of respect White House showed, sources say

Discussion: Associated Press, Raw Story, Politico, portal.liberalamerica.org and Politicus USA

Wall Street Journal:

Former Trump Adviser Paul Manafort's Bank Records Sought in Probe — Federal investigators looking into Russian election interference requested information; New York investigators also examining his real-estate transactions — The Justice Department last month requested banking records …

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:

The Senate Starts to Look at Trump's Businesses — I spoke recently to a longtime business associate of Donald Trump's, and asked his thoughts about the various investigations into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. He laughed and said that there is no way Trump could have been part of such a conspiracy.

Discussion: Vox and Talking Points Memo

Wall Street Journal:

Financial-Crimes Monitor to Share Records in Trump-Russia Probe — Senate committee requested the data from Treasury's FinCEN — WASHINGTON—A Treasury Department unit that specializes in combating money-laundering will share financial records with an expanding Senate probe …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Business Insider and Reuters

New York Times:

‘Looking Like a Liar or a Fool’: What It Means to Work for Trump — WASHINGTON — President Trump has never shown any reluctance to sacrifice a surrogate to serve a short-term political need, so he apparently did not think twice this week about exposing a series of staff members to ridicule …

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post, Daily Kos, CNN, Gizmodo, CBS Miami and ThinkProgress

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Hannity: Trump Should End Press Briefings and ‘Tweet Out All of His Accomplishments’ Instead — Sean Hannity opened his show with a monologue attacking the mainstream media, but this time he used the opportunity to voice his support for President Donald Trump ending those daily press briefings.

Discussion: Salon, Shareblue and CNBC, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump threatens to cancel White House briefings because it is ‘not possible’ …

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Weighs Shake-Up of Press Team

Discussion: Political Wire

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
‘No one can talk sense into him’: CNN guest says even Ivanka seems to have lost control of President Trump

Discussion: AOL

Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Trump suggests WH ‘not have press conferences’ unless he does them himself

Discussion: Conservative News Today, New York Times, Daily Mail, Fox News Insider, Politico, Axios, Associated Press, twitchy.com, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Week and TVNewser

Kenneth Chang / New York Times:

NASA Denies Trump's Request to Send Astronauts Past the Moon on New Rocket — When NASA launches its new big rocket for the first time — more than a year and a half from now, at the earliest — there will be no astronauts along for the ride. — In February, at the request of the Trump administration …

Discussion: The FADER

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Sinclair Requires TV Stations to Air Segments That Tilt to the Right — They are called “must-runs,” and they arrive every day at television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group — short video segments that are centrally produced by the company. Station managers around the country …

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

This is not a crisis, Republicans say as a large spider slowly devours them — I would recognize a crisis if it were happening. — When the president seized me, stunned me with his venom and covered me with digestive fluid from his chelicerae, I was initially taken aback …

Steven Rosenfeld / Alternet:

Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands — Dutch TV did what no American TV network dares, suggesting Trump's past includes illegal racketeering. — Donald Trump's business partners have included Russian oligarchs …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump meltdown sets off GOP alarms over 2018 midterm — CORONADO, Calif. — With the White House in meltdown mode, top Republican Party officials and operatives gathered at a posh oceanside resort here and contemplated a 2018 midterm election that will test them in unimaginable ways.

Discussion: Political Wire

Megan Cerullo / New York Daily News:

Roger Stone contradicts Trump, says he has spoken to the President ‘very recently’ — The Trump administration can't keep its story straight. — President Trump took to Twitter early Wednesday morning to shoot down reports that his confidant, political strategist Roger Stone …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Marc Fisher / Washington Post:

Trump has a long history of secretly recording calls, according to former associates — Throughout Donald Trump's business career, some executives who came to work for him were taken aside by colleagues and warned to assume that their discussions with the boss were being recorded.

Discussion: Conservative News Today, Salon, Politico, IJR, Raw Story, Vox, RedState, Hot Air, KTLA and New York Times

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Why it's likely that Trump does have recordings of his Oval Office conversations

Discussion: Salon, CNN, The Week, NPR, Mediaite, Power Line, FOX6Now.com, New York Daily News, New York Times, twitchy.com and The Atlantic

Chris Smith / Vanity Fair:

Inside Trump's Coming War with the F.B.I. — “Agents are pissed off at the way he was fired, the total disrespect with which it was handled. It was a slap in the face to the F.B.I., to everybody in the F.B.I.” — James Comey thought he had a year. That's the amount of time it was likely …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and The Hill

Neil Munro / Breitbart:

President Donald Trump has slid back from his campaign promises to curb the annual legal immigration of roughly 1 million foreigners. — In an interview with pro-globalist Economist magazine, Trump was asked: “Do you want to curb legal immigration?” Trump responded by saying he prefers merit-based immigration of skilled people.